"the *Phan*-tom of the O-per-a is here"

"...the Phantom of the Opera is here inside my mind" - thanks to my friend Gina, who has been playing the CD almost incessantly this last week. And not the superior Michael Crawford version, either; this new version from the film is more melodramatic than the Broadway version. Zut alors! I didn't think such a thing was possible.
Anyway, the blasted Phantom won't leave my mind, so I couldn't come up with a subject line. Perhaps the Phantom isn't inappropriate, though, because I really wanted to talk about Anna Karenina, which I am still reading. I was enjoying it, but now poor Anna is stricken with shame at her adultery, and - yawn. Seriously, it hadn't occurred to her that she'd be ashamed? And somehow, sex and having some sort of formal relationship was shameful, but being in love with a man she's not married to wasn't? This is such a Lawrencian (is that a word?) view of things - that sex is some sort of Supreme Act - and it makes me cranky. I hope the book provides more explanation for Anna's behavior - if it was going to make her so unhappy, why did she do it? Some would say that that is a classically sad, Russian view of love: "she knew it would make her unhappy, but she had to do it anyway! Ah (kissing fingers), what artistry!" But I'm not Russian, and I'm not patient with Anna Karenina, though I enjoy the rest of Anna Karenina.
For fun reading, I just finished The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold. I read a review that said that Ijada was no Ista (it's a good review; if you like Bujold's books, look here: http://www.sfreviews.net/hallowedhunt.html), and I fully agree. So today I started re-reading Paladin of Souls.
One last thing about books: check out today's Overdue strip at http://www.overduemedia.com/archive.aspx?strip=20050821 . I don't know why, but Merv's comment that "they sound well-rounded" makes me grin every time I think of it. And good heavens, if you haven't read Ender's Game, why are you waiting? Yes, I mean you. All of you!